At the AHL level, much of the intrigue of the NHL's annual trade deadline involved monitoring assignment transactions to see which players on NHL rosters were made eligible to be included on AHL clear day rosters.

Sean CollinsHERSHEY BEARS

Due to the new NHL collective bargaining agreement, AHL clear day rosters, which set player eligibility parameters from the trade deadline through the Calder Cup playoffs, will no longer exist, Hershey Bears President-GM Doug Yingst said on Tuesday.

“It's a total change in process,” Yingst said, “and it probably should have been implemented years ago.”

Because of the lockout, the 2012-13 NHL trade deadline is April 3 and the AHL trade deadline is April 10. In the past, clear day rosters were set in conjunction with the AHL trade deadline.

“We have the week [from the NHL trade deadline] to negotiate independent club loans, transfers and trades,” Yingst said. “And, unlike years past, the clear day list doesn't exist anymore. So our playoff roster is due the Monday after the conclusion of the regular season [April 22].”

AHL playoff rosters will function mainly the same as the clear day rosters did, without the front-loaded assignment gymnastics required at the NHL trade deadline. NHL clubs will still have to decide which players they will allow to participate in the Calder Cup playoffs.

Aside from NHL roster players not made eligible for returns to the AHL, clear day rosters, which allowed exemptions for injuries, NHL recalls and amateur tryout contracts, never had much practical effect on game lineups.

“There's still stipulations at that particular time with injuries and recalls. So if we want to add a player, it would basically be the same.”

Another change is that NHL clubs no longer will be limited to four free recalls from the trade deadline to the end of the season. That limitation affected the Bears, who had to go without defenseman Sean Collins, on recall to the Washington Capitals, in their first-round playoff elimination by the Charlotte Checkers in 2010-11.

“It was a situation where Hershey was for that, because all your NHL clubs look at that,” Yingst said. “If you look at the past two years, things that have happened, where there has been a player recalled and they didn't want to send him down because then they'd have to use up two recalls on the same player [to send him back to the AHL and then bring him back up].”

PED TESTING

Testing for performance-enhancing drugs will be implemented by the AHL, AHL President-CEO Dave Andrews said at his annual state of the league address at the AHL All-Star Classic on Monday in Providence, R.I.

That is a result of the new NHL CBA, which will implement drug testing in the NHL.

“It's one thing that most of the member clubs of the American Hockey League, including Hershey, have been in favor of for years,” Yingst said. “Part of the negotiations in the new NHL CBA speaks to that, so we should be able to initiate it next season.”

Details on how testing will be done and how it will be paid for are pending.

“I haven't seen anything like that from any medical staff on what will be tested for or how it's going to be done,” Yingst said. “Those things should be forthcoming.”

ALL-STAR STUCCIO

Bears broadcaster Scott Stuccio served on the television team for the AHL All-Star Classic, doing on-ice interviews (on skates) during Sunday's skills competition and in-game bench interviews during Monday's all-star game.

But the most memorable was interviewing Houston's Jason Zucker and Portland's Chris Summers following the fastest skater event at the skills competition. Zucker set an AHL skills record (13.550 seconds) only to be eclipsed in the next heat by Summers (13.324).

Stuccio asked them what they ate in preparation for those peak performances.

“We all had a good laugh,” Stuccio said, “after they said one had a pizza and the other had a No. 2 value meal.”